Ace Motel—Belle Fourche, South Dakota

After World War II, innkeeper Tom Gay decided that a new breed of high-plains drifter—the traveling salesman—deserved a clean, comfortable place to park his dusty boots for the night. So Gay built a fourteen-unit motor lodge along US 85… Tom proudly named his inn the Gay Motel—unaware that history would deal a controversial hand to that gentle term. The Gay’s name was changed to the Ace Motel in the 1960s.

Nowadays… Huge deposits of oil have been discovered in the area—enough to usher in a new breed of fortune hunter. Like generations of travelers before them, the new pioneers will need a clean and classy place to hang their hats at the end of the day. Odds say many of them will stay at the Ace, where comfort and first-class hospitality have always been in the cards.